DeAndre Yedlin’s Kanye West link and 7 other facts about Sunderland’s new signing

Mark Thompson

DeAndre Yedlin has become the latest player to sign on loan for Sunderland. Here’s a few facts about the American defender:

• Primarily a rightback, Yedlin has also featured as a wingback and wide midfielder.

• He has 23 caps for the United States and appeared at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

• He’s played for several teams with interesting (and very American) names, such as Emerald City FC, Crossfire Premier, Seattle Sounders FC and Akron Zips.

• Yedlin was born in Seattle, Washington, USA, on July 9, 1993, and is of African American, Dominican and Native American descent.

• His college coach Caleb Porter says Yedlin has “fearlessness, mixed with a positive attitude, and a refreshing level of naïveté”. He added: “I don’t think he thinks too much about the magnitude of the things that he’s doing.”

• Yedlin says he has similarities with Kanye West: “I think I have kind of have the same mind-set that Kanye West has. He just likes to do his thing.”

• That would explain why he has often taken to the field sporting a mohawk.